


Melissa and the Visitor

by Vinnocent



Series: Slugs [2]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Abandonment, Depression, Gen, Mind Control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-18
Updated: 2012-11-20
Packaged: 2017-11-18 22:39:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/566063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's something wrong with Melissa's parents. With Melissa's friends. With Melissa's life. Everybody has a secret, and she's the last to know.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One (Trying)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa never meant to bother anyone...

My name is Melissa Chapman. I live in Vallejo, California with my mom and dad. I'm 12 but almost 13, and I'm kind of good at gymnastics I guess? My father is the vice principal at our school ~~, and he doesn't love me~~.

I don't know what's happening.

Things used to be perfect. I know that's silly to say, but they were. I was my parents' princess. They put me on a pedestal and adored me. They supported me. They let me know how valued an loved I was.

Now...

I get good grades. I win awards in gymnastics. I get told that I've done a good job and that I'm a good girl. And that's it. I feel like a houseplant that gets watered when it starts to brown a bit.

I shouldn't complain. They're not hurting me. But

But I just wish I knew what I was doing wrong. I wish I knew how to get it back. Maybe... Maybe I just grew up, and this is what happens?

But everyone else still seems happy. Everyone else is still noticed. And they have friends.

My best friend doesn't talk to me anymore. I don't know what I did.

"Birds?" my mother is asking as I come downstairs. I pause. I don't want to interrupt anything important.

"Four or five of them. We know one was a bald eagle. They attacked two citizens who were shooting at them."

"Don't... Don't birds usually fly away when shot at? She seems to believe so."

"Yes, they are all convinced that an eagle stealing a rifle is unusual behavior."

"Well, what happened with the shooters?"

"Tem is working on recruiting them."

"Do we want them?"

"A body's a body. Besides, what better life for improvement?"

This sounds important. It sounds like something they don't want me walking in the middle of. So I go back upstairs to my room. Quietly, so as not to bother them. I don't have any homework left though. And I really don't have anyone I want to call. So I find my cat, Fluffer, under the bed, and give him a treat so he'll come out and cuddle with me. It's easy to make a cat forgive you for being dumb and awful. You just have to feed it.

I don't know what I'm supposed to feed Mommy and Daddy and my friends.

I don't know what I'm supposed to eat, for that matter.

I don't know.


	2. Chapter Two (Wanting)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel returns to Melissa's side, and Melissa isn't sure what she thinks.

Rachel comes to gymnastics. She's skipped a couple lately. She wasn't really "here" when she was here, and she talked about leaving because of growing out of it and I don't know what she expected me to think about that.

I don't want to talk to her because I want to talk to her.

She's looking at me. I don't know why. I guess I should smile. Is Mommy going to pick me up today?

"Hey, Melissa," she says. "How's it going?"

How is it going? I don't... I mean. Nothing's wrong. "Fine." She doesn't want to know anyway. "How about you?" That's what you say when someone asks about you. I don't want to know, either.

"Oh, pretty much the same old thing." She's lying. I guess. I mean, how would I know? I'm just being paranoid.

I don't know what I'm supposed to say to that, so I pull at my leotard and start my stretches and wait for her to go away. Rachel isn't my friend anymore. I don't know what she is.

"Melissa." She adjusts her wait awkwardly. "I was thinking... maybe you'd like to walk over to the mall with me after class?" What? "I have to buy a new pair of sneakers." Rachel doesn't need help buying sneakers. That is a statistical impossibility. So...

"The mall?" I'm stammering. Why am I acting like this? "You mean, go shopping?"

Rachel is... big. She's this great big... thing. Bigger than me in every way. I don't think she likes it, but the fact remains. Rachel is too big for someone so small as me.

"Yeah," she says with a sort of disbelieving expression, and I guess what I said was pretty stupid. "You know -- walk around and look at stuff and check out the cute guys and make fun of the snotty women at the perfume counters."

Mommy's supposed to pick me up. Would it upset her if I asked her to change the time and place? Would she notice? Is she even coming? "I'm, um, kind of busy."

Rachel actually looks sad. I didn't mean to do that. "Oh. That's cool. I understand."

I don't know what to say to that, so I continue with my stretches.

She grabs my arm. "Melissa, look... I feel like we've kind of gone in different ways, you know? And I miss you."

I really, really, _really_ don't know what I'm supposed to say to that. No one's ever missed me before. Does Daddy ever miss me? That's silly. I see him every day. Maybe I owe something to someone who used to be my friend. "Okay, well, maybe we could get together sometime."

"Not _sometime_ , Melissa, that's just you blowing me off." _I'm_ blowing _her_ off? She doesn't even! I could just! AGH! "What's going on with you?"

My anger derails and crashes and there's a big firey mess and everyone is screaming and now the tracks are empty. "What's going on with me?" What is going on with me? I want to know. What is going on? Is it me? It has to be. They haven't done anything wrong. I had to have done something wrong. But I didn't do anything. I've run it over and over, and I haven't found a thing. "Nothing is going on with me." I want to be away from her. I want out of this room. "We'd better get out there or Coach Ellway will have a fit."

I pull my arm away. Rachel doesn't follow immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Melissa gets present tense while Tom gets a mix of past and present because of the perspective they're narrating from. Tom was looking back. Melissa is narrating as it happens. I'm trying to pick details that make the most sense for each character, and I welcome input on that.


	3. Chapter Three (Remembering)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapman and Melissa give Rachel a ride home. Again, people are distinctly not saying things.

Mommy didn't pick me up. But I don't have to wait very long for Daddy to arrive. I don't mention it. I don't want him to think I'm mad. I'm just glad to be remembered.

He asks me how gymnastics was, and I tell him, but I don't think he's listening. We come to a red light, and I would recognize the back of Rachel's head anywhere. Some guy in a car seems to be bothering her. "Daddy, I think that's Rachel."

"Does she need a ride?" That's nice of him to offer. Daddy is a nice person.

The guy gets out of the car. "Uh, yeah, I think she does, actually."

The guy continues to bother her, and I lean forward, glaring at the light. "Come on. Come on."

Rachel seems to hold something in front of her face. I'm not really sure what she's doing, but there is something gray on each side of her hair. The guy takes off like a bullet.

The ligth changes, and as we start forward, the rain begins to fall. Daddy pulls over next to Rachel and lowers my window. I don't really think about it, honestly. She in the rain among street harrassers. "Hey, Rachel. Do you want a ride home?"

She looked past me, at my dad. Some people only see him as the principal, but Rachel never cared. She's a good girl. What does she care if my daddy is the principal? "I'm... I'm fine. I could use the exercise."

What did I do? Why does she hate me? I start to think this was a bad idea. She took care of that guy herself afterall. "Nonsense, young lady," says Daddy. "It's beginning to rain. Get in."

Rachel smiles, and I don't think she means it. "Thank," she says, climbing into the backseat of the car.

She's staring at the back of Daddy's head as we take off, and it's really quiet in the car, so I think maybe I should try to talk to her. "When we were stuck back at the red light, it looked like some guy was bothering you. Then, he ran off. Was he bothering you?"

"Uh... no." She shifts her gaze out the passenger window. She looks caged. She didn't have to get in. We weren't being mean. It's not fair for her to act like this. "He was... he was just picking up something he dropped by the side of the road."

Wow that is an incredible lie.

Daddy glances back at her in the mirror the way parents do. He says, "He went running off like the hounds of Hades were after him."

"Did he?" Her voice squeaks when she says it. "I wasn't looking. I guess it was the rain. That's probably why he was running. There. You can turn left there."

"I know where you live," Daddy chides her. And I do, too. Why would she try to lie to us? Why would she try to hide her house?

Is something wrong with Rachel?

I wiggle back into my seat and try to sort through my thoughts, but they don't make any sense. Eventually, Daddy pulls up in front of Rachel's house. I watch her go up the walk and frown, lowering my window again. "Hey. What happened to your shoes?"

She looks down at her shredded, floppy sneakers and grins nervously at me. "See? I told you I needed to go shopping."

Daddy rolls his eyes and drives on. He seems to understand. I don't understand anything. "Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

I have no idea what my question is. "Nevermind."


	4. Chapter Four (Suspecting)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel continues pursuing Melissa's attention.

Daddy remembered to pick me up from gymnastics. He forgot to take me to school. It's a trade off, I suppose. I shouldn't ask for so much. He's a busy man.

If I'm late, will I get in trouble with Daddy? Do I want to get in trouble with Daddy? No! That's a terrible thought! Anyway, I'm not late. Mommy has agreed to take me. She's frowning. I make sure I don't forget my homework on my desk again.

"Hey, Melissa, how's it going?"

I don't understand. I thought Rachel hated me. Why is she talking to me so much now? She hasn't talked to me in a month. She hasn't hung around me in two weeks. "What?"

She smiles. "I said, how's it going?"

 _No, I heard you._ I shake my head so I don't say something rude. She doesn't deserve that. I think. "What do you care?" Okay, still rude I guess.

"Melissa. Of course I care." She pouts. "What's wrong?"

What's wrong? I think hard. Maybe Rachel can figure it out. Maybe I need to stop keeping it all to myself. "What's wrong?" What do I say? "Everything is wrong. And nothing is wrong. But just the same, everything is wrong."

"Melissa, what are you talking about?"

I don't know what I'm talking about. "Forget it." I walk away from Rachel.

She grabs my arm again. She's stronger than I remember. "Look, you can talk to me. I'm still your friend. Nothing has changed."

That's not true. That's not true at all, and she knows it! She's part of the change! The change no one's talking about and no one will explain! "Leave me alone," I snap. "Everything has changed. Everyone has changed. You stopped being my friend. And my mom and dad..."

Her eyes widen. She leans forward. "What?" she demands.

What is wrong with her? Why is she acting like this?

The bell rings, and I want to jump out of my skin. "I have to go." I pull away and run from her as fast as I can. Somewhere behind me, I hear my dad talk to her. He's a good daddy, and I love him.


	5. Chapter Five (Crying)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa is reaching a breaking point.

Math. I don't like math. I'm not very good at it.

I try saying the problems outloud, but it doesn't help much. As soon as they're said, I don't really remember what the problem was, and I have to read it again. I speak slower. I underline and circle. It helps a little, but it takes longer. Mostly

I can't stand it anymore. I should be getting help with this. I live with a vice principal after all.

I step cautiously down the stairs. I don't know why I always sneak now. It just seems the right thing to do.

Daddy sounds cross. "... back in some distant pool of the home world." Is he talking about television?

"Don't wish for that," says Mommy. "Long before Visser Three loses power, he will surely have destroyed you for failing him."

Is this an actual thing that adults do? And I think I'm dramatic. "Hey, Mom? Dad? Can one of you help me with this math problem?"

"We're busy right now, Melissa," Daddy snaps at me.

My fingers tighten on my pencil. Usually, I shatter over things like this. My heart breaks to be unwanted, to be dismissed. But I'm tired I guess. I'm frustrated. I can't stand it anymore! I don't deserve this! I didn't do anything! I didn't! I didn't! I didn't!

"Besides, dear, you should do your own work," Mommy lectures me. "That's how you learn." _No, it's not!_ I want to scream. _No, it's not! No, it's not, or we'd just hand kids books instead of having them go to school._ "If you still can't figure it out later, your father will help you."

I don't want to fight. Maybe I can make her understand. I force myself to smile. "I guess, you're right, Mom. It's just this square root stuff."

I wait.

They wait.

She forces her smile, too. She hates me. IT'S NOT FAIR! "Square roots are hard to understand, aren't they? But I know you can do it."

"I'll come up and check on you before you turn in, sweetheart?" Daddy added.

I ran back up the stairs, Fluffer on my heels. There's the breaking feeling. I collapse on my bed and sob. I pull the pillow over my head and sob more loudly. I don't know what's wrong. I don't know what I've done, but I know that I hate all of it and wish that it would stop and go back to the way that it was before.

Fluffer jumps on my bed and sniffs me. He paws a bit, then settles down and purrs. I want to stop crying for him, but it takes a while. Fluffer is the only one who notices me and cares about me anymore. I shouldn't cry in front of him.

I put my arm around him and draw him close, scritching his head and neck. I know he doesn't like this much and sometimes he runs away, but he puts up with it this time.

"I don't know what I've done," I sniff. Like the cat is going to figure it out for me.

He looks up at me.

I scratch him some more so he'll stay. "I don't know what I did. Tell me, Fluffer McKitty. What did I do?"

Fluffer isn't purring anymore. I know he doesn't like this, but I just keep crying and scratching him. Eventually, he purrs again.

"What did I do, Fluffer?" I moan. "Why don't they love me anymore?"

Fluffer doesn't have the answers. He just purrs. I guess I fell asleep that way.

I don't think Daddy checked on me.


	6. Chapter Six (Lying)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapman's lies are stacking up.

Daddy tried to take the cat away today.

Except he didn't. It was a different cat. Fluffer was fine.

But he wouldn't tell me that. I was screaming and crying and begging, and he just ignored me. He told me that he didn't see me.

I don't understand.

How is that possible?

I think he's lying.

Who lies about that?

What is...

I don't understand.


	7. Chapter Seven (Hoping)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Melissa finds a reason.

There's a note in my locker. It's printed on computer paper and signed "Someone who knows." It promises that my daddy loves me and can't show me.

I know I should be freaked out. This is another stranger interfering in my life and giving me no real answers.

But, if it's true, then...

Then there's hope.

I am loved.

Somehow, this is all going to make sense some day.

I know, I know. I probably should have thrown it away. Whatever.


End file.
